Scenario 2 retains the MSY harvest target but allows for the removal of the existing constraint on the number of traps allowed per vessel (Table 1). We assumed the removal of the trap limit would lead to a doubling of traps per vessel, as occurred with vessels operating in the adjacent jurisdiction of Victoria, Australia, when this control was relaxed (Walker et al., 2012) (Table 1). In the Victorian fishery, the well capacity of vesselswas not a constraint so we assumed that changing the trap limit would not result in additional trips and fuel use. This assumptionwas also made on the basis that the fishery is managed with a TAC and thus catch rate (CPUE) would not be affected; that is, the same total number of trap sets would be required to take the same total catch but shared between fewer vessels. Increasing the number of trap sets per vessel has negligible impact on total fuel use per trip because travel between traps is typically around 100 m, which is small compared to travel between port and fishing grounds, often >200 km